Buena Vista International Television

Logo descriptions by Shadeed A. Kelly
Logo captures by V of Doom, Shadeed A. Kelly, Eric S., Wisp2007, Gilblitz112, and ClosingLogosHD
Additional edits by Shadeed A. Kelly and Brendan Richards
Video captures courtesy of TVpresentation, JohnnyL80, T1mmyDHr3t2, PluMGMK and EnormousRat

Background: Buena Vista International Television was the international distribution arm of Walt Disney Television established in 1985 to produce non-USA series and distribute all Disney-owned libraries around the world. In 2007, this division was renamed to "Disney-ABC International Television" after Disney retired the "Buena Vista" brand. It was renamed again in 2011 to "Disney Media Distribution".

1st Logo

(1985-1990)

Logo: On a blue background, we see a small yellow logo of the segmented Sleeping Beauty Castle (from the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo). Underneath it are the large words "Buena Vista International Television".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The chimes from the 1985 Walt Disney Television/Buena Vista Television logo, or the end theme of the program.

Availability: Ultra rare. This was spotted on a Thames Television airing of Roger Rabbit & the Secrets of Toontown, as well as some 1980s international prints of Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers and DuckTales.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo
(1985, 1987-2006)

Nickname: "Rainbow Castle"

Logo: Same as the 1985 Walt Disney Television and Buena Vista Television logos, but it reads "Distributed By Buena Vista International, Inc." underneath the castle.

Variants:

The gradient background may be black/blue, black/indigo, or black/violet.
There is a copyright stamp sometimes seen under the logo.
1987-1996 versions of this logo have the text slightly curved and in a slightly different font. The word "by" isn't capitalized in this version.
A 16:9 widescreen version exists.
Two very rare variants exist, in which the text is in a different font. Also, the word "Inc." is gone in these variants. These versions were used in 1992 and 1996, respectively.
Another ultra-rare variant exists on Stick with Me, Kid. After a computer-generated turn-around that changes from the 1994 Buena Vista Productions logo to the BVI logo, also in bolder text, but animates as normal. Below the next part is a copyright notice for The Walt Disney Company.
The BVI text is also bold on Дисней Клуб (the Russian version of Disney Club), but the background is purple, both logos are animated and not divided into parts and the logos animate as normal.
On Kelab Disney Malaysia, the text on the bottom is just copyright info for the program, and changes three times:

Produced in association with

Buena Vista International Inc.

The Walt Disney Company

On Playhouse Disney Australia,the text is once again exclusively a copyright notice like with the Kelab Disney Malaysia variant, but is all placed within to the bottom of the logo rather than being displayed separately. The logo is displayed in 16:9 widescreen in this case as well.

FX/SFX: The spark flying, and the text fading. Other times (mainly the 1987-1996 version of this logo due to it following the Touchstone Television logo), it's still.

Music/Sounds: Same as Walt Disney Television and/or Buena Vista Television and/or Touchstone Television logos or none.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On many episodes of Mummies Alive! airing in Europe, the 3rd music of the 2nd Claster Television logo is used, due to sloppy plastering.
Disney+ prints of Smart Guy play the finishing of the warped 1987 Walt Disney Television music, but silent afterwards.

Availability: Common.

This can generally be found on various Touchstone/Walt Disney Television series on DVD such as The Golden Girls (some episodes may use the 1998 logo), Home Improvement, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, TaleSpin, some late season 1 and early season 2 episodes of DuckTales,and Ellen, as well as some episodes of Goof Troop on the volume 1 DVD set.
It is still seen on various Disney-owned programs and movies whenever aired on their overseas channels or affiliates.
It can also be found at the ends of The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again and Midnight Madness on the region 1 DVD releases, as well as some Touchstone Home Entertainment DVD releases with What About Bob? being one of them.
This appears on original prints of all episodes of Marsupilami even in North America, and also appears on the videocassette releases. It surprisingly appears on home video prints of Frankenpooh, whereas most The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh videocassettes of the era use the standalone Walt Disney Television variant.
This is also seen on various Disney/Touchstone/Hollywood Home Entertainment region 2 PAL DVD releases at the ends of The Three Musketeers, The Journey of Natty Gann, and possibly Deep Rising as well as Die Hard With a Vengeance.
It also appeared on various international prints of DIC Entertainment shows produced during this time period, sometimes being preserved, one example being on a KidsDHX print of Mummies Alive! on the KidsDHX YouTube channel (oddly with the 3rd music of the 2nd Claster Television logo) and on international prints of Sabrina: The Animated Series and Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century.
The 1992 logo is extremely rare, only appearing on international prints of The Grand Opening of Euro Disney.
The 1996 variant can be found on the Ellen episode "Two Mammograms and a Wedding" on the season 3 DVD.
The 1995 version of this logo was seen on a LMN airing of Circle of Deceit.
After 2000, this logo only appeared on third party material like The Disney Club in Russia and Malaysia and the Australian Playhouse Disney TV series that aired on the Seven Network.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo
(1998-2006)

Nickname: "The Blue Castle", "The White Castle" (for the Servicing the Distribution of this Programme variant)

Logo: We see the finished 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo (in the scheme of the 1990 Walt Disney Television logo), sans the text "WALT DiSNEY PICTURES" and the segmented circular line (which would later be drawn). Then the text:

Distributed By

Buena Vista International Inc.

fades in. As it does, the circular line is drawn over the castle, but slower and differently.

Variants:

Sometimes, the 1987 Walt Disney Television logo (or the 2003 Walt Disney Television Animation logo) would animate at first, then just after the circular line is drawn, the text "Distributed By Buena Vista International Inc." would cross-fade in.
Like the previous logo, a 16:9 widescreen version exists.
Starting in 2003, an alternate variant began to be used where the company was referred to "BUENA VISTA INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" (with "BUENA VISTA" bigger than the rest of the words) with the byline "Servicing the Distribution of this Programme", on a blue background while the spark flies over the castle a little slower. Sometimes, the text will be a little smaller and the castle a little bigger (while the byline and text are also close together). The company name, which would be later used for the next logo, is stacked like this:

BUENA VISTA

INTERNATIONAL

TELEVISION

FX/SFX: The name fading and the spark animating. Other times (on some Touchstone Television shows), it's a still logo.

Music/Sounds: Silent (mainly on the standalone logo), the finishing of the 1987 Walt Disney Television theme or the finishing of the end title theme of any show.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On an international airing of a Stanley episode, the logo had the music from the Cartoon Pizza and the 2001 Playhouse Disney Originals logo! This could be because of a bad plaster error.
On an international airing of a That's so Raven episode, the logo had the music of the 2002 Disney Channel Originals logo! This also could be a bad plaster error.
On an early international airing of the That's So Raven episode, "Driven To Insanity", the logo had the music of the 2000 Disney Channel Originals logo (Oddly, the episode was apart of season 1 which used the 2002 music). This could be due to a lousy plaster error.
The full 1988 WDT theme was also used on the standalone logo, due to yet another plastering error.
Overseas airings of the final season of The Golden Girls also played the 1985 WDT/BVTV "Rainbow Castle" theme on both the Touchstone logo and this one, once again due to a plastering error.

Availability: Common.

It's still seen on international prints of any Disney, Touchstone, ABC, and Buena Vista Television shows and Disney-owned movies on cable networks like Showtime and SundanceTV.
This can also be seen on DVD volumes and complete set of the 1967-1970 Spider-Man series, 1986-87, 1988-89 and some 1991-92 episodes of The Golden Girls on the DVD sets, reruns of Smart Guy on Family Channel Canada (plastering the Walt Disney Television logo on some episodes) and non-Canadian airings of RoboRoach.
Disney Channel USA airings of the Disney Channel Original Movie, Pixel Perfect has this at the end.
This made a surprise appearance on a SundanceTV airing of the My So-Called Life episode "Life of Brian".
The short animated silent variant is extremely rare, but it can be found at the end of video release of The Book of Pooh: A Valentine for Eeyore, not from the main show itself, but instead of a Rolie Polie Olie episode that appeared after the program. It appears after the end credits.
It also appeared on international airings of DIC Entertainment-produced shows like Sonic Underground, season 3 of The New Adventures of Madeline and even made a surprise appearance onthe UK Prism Leisure DVD release ofInspector Gadget's Last Case.
It also appeared on early French airings of Sonic X (Buena Vista/Jetix France dubbed the series) and on Gadget and the Gadgetinis.
The International Television variant appears on international prints of ex-Saban programs, SIP Animation shows, Fox Kids/Jetix co-productions as well as Fox Kids/Jetix shows distributed by BVIT, such as Season 1 of W.I.T.C.H., the second season of What's with Andy?, Tutenstein and RoboRoach. It also appeared on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!
Strangely, this logo appears on one episode of Sonic Underground on the now-defunct European KidsCo network. In another bizarre case, this is also seen on Treehouse Direct Brazil prints of The Fairly OddParents (Viacom owns the series, but the series also aired on some Disney Channel's overseas as Nelvana distributes the first 4 seasons outside the United States, a possible reason why this logo appeared).
This logo (with the WDTA logo) has been spotted on a May 24, 2018 Disney XD USA airing of the Lilo & Stitch: The Series episode "Phoon", probably due to using a PAL print of the latter episode (a similar case happened with the 2000 Walt Disney Television logo on the episode “Topper” on the aforementioned channel, also a result of using a PAL print of some sort).
It is believed to be seen on at the ends of Mimic 1-3 (Dimension Films productions) on the Lionsgate Mimic Blu-Ray triple feature set.
It is also rumored this appears on some Mill Creek and Kino Lorber Blu-Ray releases of Touchstone/Hollywood Pictures titles such as Takin' Care Of Business, Mr. Destiny, Tough Guys, The Puppet Masters, Deep Rising, and possibly others.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo
(2006-2007)

Nicknames: "The Turning 2-D Castle", "The White Castle II"

Logo: On a purple water-like background, we see a 2-D Walt Disney castle turning from right to center while white lights shines up on the logo. Turning with the castle we see the stacked words, "BUENA VISTA INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" (in the same alignment as the Servicing the distribution version of the previous logo) and a Disney copyright stamp underneath. Above the castle has "Distributed by" in Arial font.

Variants:

Sometimes, "Servicing the distribution of this programme" would replace "Distributed by".
Like the previous two logos, a widescreen version exists.
There is also a 2:35:1 version.
Two short versions exist. One has the full animation playing, then fades out after one second. The other has the finished product only with some light dissipating at the start.

FX/SFX: The castle fading in and turning.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:

One episode of Dirt on international airings use the music of the 5th FX Networks logo music due to a reverse plaster error.
On current prints of the TV movie Model Behavior, the short Walt Disney Television music is heard due to plastering the 1986 WDT and 1995 WDT/BVI logos.

Availability: Uncommon.

Like the previous two, it's seen at the end of international TV and DVD prints of Disney and Touchstone movies (theatrical and television) and TV series (the latter mostly being aired on ABC), however, some movie channels don't have this at the end of theatrical films most cases such as HBO Asia (which has the first short version at the end of Finding Nemo), Fox Movies Asia (which has the second short version at the end of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe), Disney Channel Asia (this logo is still saved on international prints of High School Musical, even on the latter), among other international movie channels.
It's seen on some international shows such as Polish airings of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Season 1 episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Polish airings of older Disney cartoons which plastered the previous 2 logos.
This also plastered the Touchstone Pictures and Amblin Entertainment logos on a Christmas Eve airing of Who Framed Roger Rabbit on BBC 2 a few years back.
The "Serving the Distribution" version, like with the previous logo appears on Jetix co-productions or shows airing on the channel distributed by the company, like season 2 of W.I.T.C.H.. and season 1 of Pucca.
It is rumored this appears on a few Mill Creek and Kino-Lorber Blu-Ray releases of Touchstone/Hollywood Pictures titles such as Big Business, Firebirds, Prefontaine, Scenes From a Mall, and possibly others.

Editor's Note: None.

Buena Vista International Television

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